Thursday, June 07, 2007

Trip To Carlo Vinci's House

Steve Worth, Amir Avni and I went to visit Carlo Vinci's family last weekend. That's Carlo's wife Margaret above and her son Ron and grandson John. Amir is smiling to left of her.There's Ron, his lovely wife Scarlett and son John.We got to see lots of great artwork and Margaret showed us her love letters from Carlo from the late 1930s. On Terrytoons stationery!That's a self portrait of Carlo above. I'll tell you more in a bit...Steve is going to post a bunch of Carlo's love letters - with drawings of Terrytoons characters at the archive soon. So keep your eyes peeled.http://www.animationarchive.org/

I never got to meet the great Carlo Vinci, unfortunately - but I did meet Ron and John Vinci - Carlo's son and grandson, respectively. Both are super nice guys who made good on their promise to share some of Carlo's personal artwork with the world - through the courtesy of the ASIFA Archives.

Thanks, guys - and John and Steve, too. I'll be hoisting a glass of red wine to Carlo's honor, as I enjoy the excellent vintage of these fine cartoon posts...

Oops, I almost forgot! Special thanks go to Mrs. Vinci, who not only had the excellent foresight to save these cherished drawings for half a century, but was kind enough to share some purely personal sentiments with the world.

>Oops, I almost forgot! Special thanks go to Mrs. Vinci, who not only had the excellent foresight to save these cherished drawings for half a century, but was kind enough to share some purely personal sentiments with the world.

So little original cartoon art was saved from back then, so let's hope nobody throws out the winning lottery ticket.

You could argue for these letters belonging in a museum for future generations to admire and study, or you could argue that they belong in the Vinci family. The Archive facilitated the best of both worlds. Now they are available for everyone to see, and yet Mrs. Vinci is still able to have the originals in her home to treasure. Nice work, gentlemen!

Ron Vinci just called with the news that Mrs. Vinci had a fall today and broke her hip. She will be going into surgery in the next couple of days. Anyone who would like to send get well cards can send them in care of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.